A young teenager from Cranham has seen all his hard work pay off after he was selected to play his double bass with the National Youth Orchestra.

Charles Campbell-Peek, 14, will be performing with the prestigious National Youth Orchestra (NYO) next year.

He told the Recorder: “I have been playing the double bass since I was seven and started at Havering Music Centre when I was looking for violin lessons.

“I like how low the instrument can go and how we are listened to a lot in the orchestra as we control some of the speed.”

The double bass player will join 164 other musicians from all over the country to perform at various exciting locations, such as the University of Warwick’s Art’s Centre and the Barbican.

“I’m really excited to be part of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and it gives me a chance to play with some of the best,” said the Felsted School pupil.

“It is a wonderful opportunity. I have put in a lot of hard work into and I’m just glad to see that it paid off.

“By playing with these people, I will be learning new things and developing my skills.”

The young orchestra will have a debut performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall as part of plans for NYO’s first ever tour to the USA.

David Liz Forgan, chairman of NYO, said: “This is a great opportunity to put the UK’s famous National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain to a world stage and to forge links with other teenage musicians through NYO’s internationally admired model for teenage engagement, and peer mentoring.”

NYO musicians will volunteer more than 1,000 hours of their time, engage with 1,000 teenage musicians through NYO Inspire and give 6,500 live concert experiences to teenagers in secondary schools.

Charles added: “There was an audition process where you had to play two contrasting pieces and we were given orchestral excerpts to prepare beforehand.

“I’m looking forward to the wide range of repertoire that we will be playing and meeting lots of new people.

“I hope that my communication skills within the orchestra will become greater.”